Ubuntu 12.04 Wifi Drivers

I recently bought a new laptop from Novatech. (the nSpire 2760 to be precise. not the black edition.) and I cannot find any wifi drivers for it.

I cannot determine the model number of the wifi card, all I have discovered is that it has the chipset ID '168c:0037'. From general google searching, I have discovered this being referenced as the AR9485, AR9285, AR1111 and various other model numbers. Therefore, I have no idea which model I actually have.

If anyone has any ideas on how I can get drivers for this card, or any suggestions that I could try, I am open to anything, as it would be such a shame to have to resort to Windows only due to lack of wifi drivers on linux.

If you need any more information just let me know and I will do my best to provide it.

Re: Ubuntu 12.04 Wifi Drivers

Are there any "Additional Drivers" available for this laptop, including perhaps one for the Atheros AR9485 card you seem to have? Search for "Additional Drivers" in Ubuntu and see if any are suggested. You may have to be online to access/download them however.

Sometimes plugging the laptop in temporarily with a cable to update and get access to additional drivers can help fix these kinds of problems.

It's a shame Atheros hasn't provided good Linux support for this wireless card. You aren't the only one with this problem:

Re: Ubuntu 12.04 Wifi Drivers

Quick update:

Just tried ndiswrapper. Unfortunately I could not find any supported drivers on the list, or any drivers for my device for windows xp, therefore I had to try the .sys and .inf that I got on the windows 7 driver CD with the laptop, which are the same ones being used by my windows 7 partition.

Unfortunately, this did not work. The drivers installed succesfully, and after running 'sudo ndiswrapper -l' the driver was installed correctly and had correctly associated itself with the device.

Re: Ubuntu 12.04 Wifi Drivers

I am very sorry to hear of your difficulties. Wireless cards are probably the worst issue people have with Linux. It's partly due to the way hardware makers themselves choose to support Linux. Many wireless card makers do not directly support their wireless cards and instead work with the laptop maker to release drivers. And usually, laptop manufacturers do not release any Linux drivers. So you have to wait for Linux developers to develop a working driver that is released in the kernels that go into the distros like Ubuntu - or juggle some fixes like trying to install various packages.

Some hardware manufacturers have much better Linux support than others. Intel has very good Linux support for its wireless cards - one reason I always get an Intel wireless card whenever it's possible. Realtek also has decent support - they release Linux driver source code on their website, but you have to compile it; Realtek chipsets are found in a lot of USB wireless cards.

I've upgraded many laptops to Intel wireless cards for that reason. Some laptop internal wireless cards are very easy to upgrade (a few screws on a bottom panel, two or three antenna wires). Sometimes the wireless card is buried deep inside the laptop and is a pain to get to. Of course, it could void your warranty upgrading a wireless card if the laptop is new. Even so, some manufacturers' hardware doesn't even allow you to install unapproved wireless cards. HP and Lenovo "whitelist" their wireless cards to block unapproved cards. Dell and Acer (and others) do not. I don't know Novatech's policy or if that is even possible for you. I'm a hardware guy by background so swapping a wireless card is usually routine for me, not for everyone.